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Reducing phone support calls and improving catalog search with revised content labeling and taxonomy for Rodman public library

Two women at opposite sides of a library desk using computers. One is browsing the library website.

Date Completed

October, 2019

Overview

As an underfunded small-town library, the Rodman website is about what can be expected. They were clearly in need of contemporary interface patterns and interactive content organized by a thorough content evaluation and taxonomy assessment.

Looking to iTunes for inspiration I developed a solution for supporting users with improved access to the basics.
Primary and secondary global navigation surrounding the catalog support discoverability with sorts and task-based labeling for: hours, location, and account configuration for text-based due date notices.

I acted as a UX team of one for this initiative, while also consulting with library staff and UX professionals in my network when considering audience and task-specific organizational schemes.

View Desktop Prototype
Infographic showing a magnified view of the site's secondary navigation
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View Mobile PWA PrototypeQr scan code
Rodman mobile prototype mockup
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Process

learn

Library websites are a well researched part of the internet. Pew Research alone provided a wealth of information on patrons and library use.

What I found was consistent with what I had imagined users would call libraries about if their website were to go offline. Catalog search with robust sort and search within results affordances, online card sign-up and social media feeds with information on new titles and library programming topped the list.

Library patron quotes

“People do not browse library websites for enjoyment but instead to gain the information they need. To library end users, the catalog is the website and the website is the catalog: They are one and the same”. Nielson Norman Group
“I believe libraries should take a more active role in teaching patrons, both children and adults, how to interact with digital materials, whether that is: computers, digitized materials, e-books, automatic book checkouts, or other devices. Libraries should step up to the plate and assume responsibility for the digital education of the community.”
“If I want to know something, I’d know to ask the library staff questions, but I’m not going to always know what questions to ask because I’m not going to always know what information I can ask about. . . . An activity might not necessarily be posted, and if it’s not posted, how would you know to ask?”

Americans say libraries are important to their families and their communities, but often do not know all the services libraries offer

A full 91% of Americans ages 16 and older say public libraries are important to their communities; and 76% say libraries are important to them and their families. Libraries are touch-points in communities for the vast majority of Americans: 84% of Americans ages 16 and older have been to a library or bookmobile at some point in their lives and 77% say they remember someone else in their family using public libraries as they were growing up.

Still, just 22% say that they know all or most of the services their libraries offer now. Another 46% say they know some of what their libraries offer, and 31% said they know not much, or nothing at all about what their libraries offer.

Library statistics information
understand

Domaine research uncovered more about library patrons than I had expected, and allowed me to focus more than usual on listening and empathizing with users than observing the use of the existing site.

Goals of research

  • learn why patrons are using the site (i.e., in what contexts are they using it), what information they are searching for and what information/activities are most desirable to them.
  • Define target users in a way useful for informing the best IA solution through the creation of individual user personas.
  • All information collected and created will be assembled in the form of a user research document.

Interview questions

  1. Tell me about any problems patrons using the website commonly report to the staff.
  2. Tell me about any problems the staff have with the website.
  3. What are the most common topics of the phone calls from patrons your staff receives?
  4. What metrics are most important to the library, circulation, event attendance, etc.?
  5. Are there any categories of library holdings that patrons have greater difficulty accessing?
  6. Are there any specific characteristics patrons share who report difficulty with the website?
  7. What characteristics are shared by patrons using Rodman.com the most?
  8. What categories of library holdings have the highest circulation rates?
  9. What do you like or dislike about other library websites?

Librarian interviews

Findings

Staff and patron interviews generated good insights into primary user groups and tasks. A wealth of statistical data was found during domaine research of the same topics. One of the fundamental complaints from library staff was the fielding of calls for information that could be found on the library website. Librarians were interested in solutions that freed them from tasks like, providing basic information such as hours, due dates, and the availability of resources.

  • Technically proficient users who access online resources via links from the library website.
  • Parents and children attending events at the library
  • Patrons using library computers to access the internet, use software and print from library printers.

Context of use

Following a brief discussion with family members who had worked at Rodman and Rodman librarians, I asked myself what kind of calls would librarians field if the library site were to go down for a while. Testing of a revised taxonomy and labeling solution with Optimal Workshop's Treejack and Chalkmark produced an improved experience for library user’s most common tasks.

  1. Calls about library holdings
  2. Calls for renewals for loaned materials
  3. And calls about library hours and location

To a lesser extent I imagined calls for ...

  • How long can I check out a book for?
  • How can I get a library card?
  • Do you have photoshop, a scanner, a fax machine?
  • Do you have children's reading events and if so when?
  • Are there e-books?

What I imagined no one would be calling about were the following.

  • The history of the library
  • The history of Alliance
  • The library mission statement
  • Any information about the library's board
  • Questions about library policy

  1. Ambiguous categories

    Rational  

    The ambiguous categories, events, and services are present in primary global navigation. A tradeoff could be made here to prevent overcrowding. Place two distinct categories within services that otherwise might be separated into resources and services, making a clear distinction between programming and professional services offered, and infrastructure like copy machines and wifi access.

  2. Task specific categories

    Rational

    One of the best ways to support Rodman users is to provide them with navigation options that match the goals they bring their interaction with the site. The most common is searching the catalog. A good solution should provide a secondary navigation comprised of a list of task-specific links for both sorting and searching the catalog. The same pattern should be maintained for other everyday tasks such as, getting a card or paying fines.

  3. Audience specific categories

    Rational 

    Audience specific categories would provide alternative routes to information for library programming, holdings, and particular category services.

define

With a better understanding of libraries, their staff, and patrons, I was prepared to evaluate the site and its content in the next formative summative cycle of research

The Rodman.com taxonomy is too deep and leaves too much information in poorly defined categories like "library information". Many of the sites sub-pages are connected by contextual links rather than menus or tabs. The About Us page left twenty-one pages as subsets. Many of these pages have contextual links, which constitute the fourth layer, and these pages also have links. The library catalog is the primary task for patrons. Yet, the catalog is not visual, does not occupy the landing page's body, and does not offer faceted navigation support for browsing and searching library holdings.

The site could also benefit from a more integrated use of text and images to support scanning. The current site is comprised of more text than a user can quickly scan. Research has proven that reading comprehension improves with higher integrations of text and image organized into chunks by clear user of typographic hierarchy taxonomy and labeling. Download the study.

Sitemap of Rodman Library's current site
Rodman current site taxonomy infographic

With interviews domain research and a taxonomy review of the current site complete, I began the summative work of producing goal-based user personas

Library patrons use library sites to search holdings, reserve computers, study space and learn about event programming. To find ways to support these varying contexts of use, I produced goal-directed personas.

Rodman user persona
Rodman user persona
Rodman user persona
  • Searching and browsing library holdings.
  • Account management for renewing borrowed materials, updating profile information such as phone number email, and physical address.
  • Making arrangements for in-person library use such as reserving a meeting room, or computer for internet access, software use printing, and scanning.
  • Sharing library holdings information via social media and email.
  • Checking library hours of operation & location.
  • Contacting library staff for assistance.
  • Become a library volunteer.
  • Borrow materials through interlibrary loan.
Results table for task analysis

Task priorities

To support users with a revised taxonomy, labeling and org scheme I began by conducting a complete content analysis of every link and page accounting for each content item, its task priority, and current level in the org scheme

Content analysis

Tree analysis

Having looked closely at all content I began organizing and grouping to improve discoverability and provide multiple routes to information with ambiguous, audience, and task-specific categories

Rodman library revised org schemes

Tree testing with Treejack

The learning and understanding phases of previous research informed my imagining of an updated taxonomy and labeling for the Rodman Library. The evaluation phase began by testing taxonomy and labeling with the online tool Treejack. Evaluation continued with further testing using the mockup-based testing tool Chlakmark. Of the four participants, one encountered some confusion with one task. Digital media was mistakenly selected by users asked to browse eBooks. These two locations each present options for browsing eBooks.

Tasks tested

  1. Get a library card
  2. Renew currently checked out materials
  3. Browse library events
  4. Check hours of operation for the library today
  5. Find out how much the daily cost is for a late book return
  6. Browse the library catalog of eBooks * Problem task
  7. Browse the library catalog of fiction titles
  8. Find out how much it costs to make color copies at the library
  9. View the reading list for the boy's book club
Online taxonomy testing results

Taxonomy revisions

Rodman Library offers patrons access to eBooks from collections that are not included in the library catalog. If developers are unable to integrate all eBooks with the catalog they could be included in the catalog as subcategories of eBooks. The page “Digital Media” will be deleted and its subsets will appear in catalog navigation when eBooks are selected from the catalog navigation menu. These sub-set categories will appear as a drop-down expanded section of the catalog menu and Streaming Media will be added as a category of Quick Links.

Online taxonomy testing results
ideate

To define a new sitemap and user interface I began considering heuristics patterns appropriate for libraries and catalogs of information

After reviewing several large and small library sites I decided to iterate on a well researched pattern that has proven to be usable. I looked to Apple iTunes as a good solution for browsing and searching a catalog of entries. I looked at the design patterns in the various views in iTunes and began sketching and considering heuristic based rationales for UI patterns for desktop and mobile.

  1. #1: Visibility of system status

    • Link state styling keeps users oriented
    • Global primary and secondary navigation keeps link state
      styles visible throughout all user journeys

  2. #2: Match between system and the real world

    • Keeping primary navigation across a top header mimics
      a real world tabs filing system

  3. #3: User control and freedom

    • Global primary and secondary navigation keeps
      return to top level categories a click away

  1. #4: Consistency and standards

    • Global primary and secondary navigation maintains familiarity with other interface navigation patterns

  2. #5: Aesthetic and minimalist design

    • Keeping the content and visual design focused on the essentials
    • Integrating text and image to a degree that supports scanning
Info graphic wireframe for revised UI
Rodman prototype medium fidelity wireframe
Mediul fidelity mobil UI sketch of Rodman app

Before testing the revised UI with users I developed a complete sitemap for the new taxonomy

The revised org scheme supports users with specific tasks in mind, and those with the most common intent of browsing the library collections. By providing separate org schemes for the catalog and the rest of the information online, the most common task of finding and selecting from the library holdings are clear and actionable. Other primary tasks, such as getting a card, are organized as task-oriented category entries, making them easier for users to identify than leaving them as subcategory options of ambiguous topical categories.

Rodman-proposed sitemap
Rodman revised sitemap

Optimal Workshops Chalkmark testing found that users were finding their way through the revised site structure without error

I tested the same task once again with a medium fidelity prototype for the proposed redesign. Of the four participants, several errors were made in selecting the desired link. However, heat-maps of clicks revealed that users were only missing the hotspot and not selecting the wrong link.

Rodman Chalkmark prototype testing results
prototype

With my findings from research verified as understandable taxonomy and labeling, I began the design and production of a high fidelity prototype of the landing page.

To accommodate scanning, I had observed that highly integrated text and images throughout the site were a priority. I also wanted to organize the taxonomy of categories to take advantage of the heuristic of extrinsic consistency. I could not look to library websites as they do not have a common enough patterns. I considered other UI patterns that organize collections of elements, deciding on one of the most popular interfaces of the past several decades, iTunes.

Rodman library annotated prototype
Rodman mobile prototype annotated
All rodman prototype screens for mobile, side by side

Reflections & takeaways

From the beginning of research, I learned a great deal in my interviews with library staff. Librarians explained who their most common library patrons were, and the most common goals of patrons. They were able to shed light on what takes them away from their more important work at the library, pointing out several opportunities to reduce the number of calls they field for routine information such as hours, late fees, and location.

The critical takeaway from this project was seeing evidence generated from user testing that the process of creating, testing, and verifying an information architecture for an existing set of content worked well. Testing with Optimal Workshops found taxonomy and labeling problems that would have otherwise confused users and driven additional voice calls for assistance that librarians point out as inconvenient.

These changes and implementing other best practices such as shallow category depth, and clear labeling and organization schemes, should prove to cut down on the number of voice calls fielded by staff. This business objective, together with the improved findability of information overall, is easily accomplished within modest budget constraints by a developer building on the live prototypes created in Webflow and Famous Studio.

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